Preview: SummerWorks Festival 2010

For the third year, Toronto's long-running SummerWorks festival is supplementing its theatrical programme with a Music Series. This year the music portion finds a new home at The Lower Ossington Theatre (100A Ossington), and has expanded beyond just the concert-format shows of the past couple years to include Musical Works in Concert ("an opportunity for creators, composers, and lyricists with a platform to showcase musical work in development ") as well as shows in the Performance Bar (downstairs at the Ossington Theatre) where a bevy of musicians will be special guests to some manner of freewheeling drop-in improv.

It looks like a very well-chosen lineup that you can look over here. Many of the artists — both in the concert series and in the performance bar — will be familiar to readers of this blog, and I feel like I can recommend quite a few of them. Plus, I can back up my words with some live samples to give you an idea of what you might be in for.

If you want to read more about any of these artists, just click on the labels at the bottom of this post.

THURSDAY, AUGUST 5TH, 2010

Mainstage: The Hidden Cameras

Leading things off with a two-night stand is one of the city's most theatrical bands, a perfect fit for this Festival. In fact, word is that the band will be doing a theatrical re-interpretation of last year's Origin:Orphan. The band's performances always have the sense of being an event, and this one looks like it might be something special.

Listen! The Hidden Cameras - Fear of Zine Failure (Recorded at the Opera House, December 5, 2009.)

Performance Bar: Allie Hughes

Allie Hughes has transcended past a flirtation with reality TV (as a contestant on How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria) to craft sophisticated pop that's smart enough not to alienate jaded listeners in Toronto's indie scene, daring to be a technically proficient singer in a milieu that often prefers the cough-ahem-authenticity of the rough-hewn.

Listen! Allie Hughes - Headmaster (Recorded at The Garrison, March 5, 2010)

FRIDAY, AUGUST 6

Mainstage: The Hidden Cameras

see above

Performance Bar: Maylee Todd

Whether performing space-funk workouts with her band Pegwee Power or performing soulful solo jams on her harp, Maylee Todd brings star power to the stage.

Listen! Maylee Todd & Pegwee Power - Aerobics in Space (Recorded at The Drake Underground, March 25, 2010)

SATURDAY, AUGUST 7TH, 2010

Performance Bar: Tasseomancy

Previously known as Ghost Bees, this duo of twin sisters Sari and Romy Lightman transfix with their spare folk stylings. A little bit of off-kilter spookiness that would go down well in any cemetery or haunted house.

SUNDAY, AUGUST 8TH, 2010

Performance Bar: Laura Barrett

One of the city's best, Laura Barrett brings her kalimba-powered songs to bear on pressing issues of love, optimism, and other science projects.

Listen! Laura Barrett - Ferryland (Recorded at Jason Collett's Basement Revue, Dakota Tavern, December 22, 2009)

MONDAY, AUGUST 9TH, 2010

Performance Bar: THOMAS / Snowblink

Most recently gaining attention as Owen Pallett's on-stage co-conspirator, Thomas Gill — the band THOMAS' namesake — has in fact collaborated with many local musicians in addition to leading his own combo. With falsetto vocals augmented by Felicity Williams' soulful pipes, THOMAS dares to be soft in the face of a hard world.

The musical partnership of Daniela Gesundheit and Dan Goldman, Snowblink takes a beautiful voice and wraps it in reverb and antlers, then loops more voices around that. The band have been playing some choice new material lately, and often throw in a stripped-down cover recasting a song you thought you knew in a haunting new light.

Listen! Snowblink - unknown (Recorded at Poor Pilgrim Island Show 4 (St. Andrew-by-the-lake Church), July 18, 2010)

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 11TH, 2010

Mainstage: PS I Love You / Diamond Rings

Singer/guitarist Paul Saulnier of Kingston duo PS I Love You fills the stage with guitar and bass (courtesy of foot pedals), bringing a hard-edged rock attack with DOR attitude. Suitable for those who want to hoist their beers up in the air but not alienating those who want to dance.

Listen! P.S. I Love You - Facelove (Recorded at Wavelength 494, The Garrison, December 20, 2009)

Quickly becoming a sensation, Diamond Rings (a.k.a. John O'Regan of local rockers The D'Urbervilles) has gained notice and rapidly-increasing audiences not because of gimmicks or eye-catching videos so much as from bringing some top-notch pop songs to the stage. Presented with increasing assuredness, O'Regan knows how to meld melancholy bedroom pop with electro-glam bombast, pulling off more than a few anthems in the process.

Listen! Diamond Rings - Something Else (Recorded at Owen Pallett's 30th Birthday Party, Lula Lounge, Sunday, September 6, 2009)

Performance Bar: Grand Analog

Reggae and soulful flourishes complement Odario Williams' ecumenical hip-hop, brought to life with an energetic live band. A guaranteed party-starter.

Listen! Grand Analog - Not Enough Mondays (Recorded at Daps All-Ages V, Kapisanan Philippine Centre, April 10, 2010)

THURSDAY, AUGUST 12TH, 2010

Mainstage: The Wilderness of Manitoba

Those who came to folk-rock via Fleet Foxes will find as much to like in this band as those who came to folk-rock via Crosby, Stills & Nash. Featuring warm harmonies and banjo, this band has advanced their craft pretty rapidly in a fairly short time. (appearing with The Mountains & The Trees, Entire Cities and The Weather Station)

Listen! The Wilderness of Manitoba - Evening (Recorded at The Garrison, January 21, 2010)

FRIDAY, AUGUST 13TH, 2010

Mainstage: Picastro / Evening Hymns

The two adjectives that come first to mind when describing Picastro would be "sleepy" and "downer" — this is not music to listen to while operating heavy machinery. But there's a melancholy beauty in the slowly-spun arrangements behind Liz Hysen's songs. Highly recommended for those who don't finch in the face of interiority.

Listen! Picastro - Hortur (Recorded at Wavelength 500 (night 4), SPK Polish Combatants Hall, February 13, 2010)

Jonas Bonnetta's Evening Hymns, meanwhile, also have a bit of a haunted quality to them, evoking ghost-filled forests and abandoned cabins. Working in a roots-y vein, Bonnetta is capable of creating striking music on his own, but fleshed out with a band works toward a ragged grandeur.

Listen! Evening Hymns - Dead Deer (Recorded at the Out of This Spark 3rd Anniversary Party, The Garrison, January 22, 2010)

Performance Bar: Nifty / Bob Wiseman

A one-man band with a laptop and bin full of electronics, Matt Smith (a.k.a Nifty and/or Nif-D) is also a master of the looping pedal, folding layers of his own vocals into his real-time electronic compositions. Equally capable of creating ambient soundscapes and dancefloor bangers, Nif-D never plays the same set twice.

Listen! Nif-D - Centre of Gravity excerpt (Recorded at Centre of Gravity, November 21, 2009. Bite Your Tongue #2)

Returning to the music programme after presenting his musical/theatrical hybrid "Actionable" in last year's SummerWorks, activist, bon vivant and Canadian music legend Bob Wiseman may bring some or all of these elements to this show: guitar, accordion, keyboards, storytelling, outrage, short films, love songs.

Listen! Bob Wiseman - The Disappearing Trick (Summerworks Festival (Factory Studio Theatre). Saturday, August 15, 2009)

SATURDAY, AUGUST 14TH, 2010

Mainstage: Bocce / RatTail

Last chance to dance! As kinetic and mildly chaotic as the sport that they are named after is not, this synth-rockin' crew will probably leave the Lower Ossington Theatre in a sweaty mess.

Listen! Bocce - Disco Juan (Recorded at Lee's Palace (Friends in Bellwoods 2 release party), Friday, August 28, 2009)

Purveyors of a smartly-torqued indie-rock sound, trio RatTail features guitarist Jasmyn Burke's vocals, with a flattened monotone affect that veers off into yelps, as the most immediately arresting element in their arsenal. They fit well against the lean post-punk groove of the music, with Ryan Mounsey's bass often seizing the melodic lead space against the slashing guitar lines.

Listen! RatTail - George Mounsey (Recorded at Wavelength P.S. Kensington, May 30, 2010)

Gig: The Wilderness of Manitoba

No Shame Presents: The Wilderness of Manitoba / Ghost Bees / Casey Mecija

The Garrison. Thursday, January 21, 2010.

Out on a Thursday night to check out this No Shame presentation at The Garrison. Nice to note some little signs of things "settling in" there. The famous blank red walls are now broken up a bit with some non-art — black, fabric-covered squares looking like Velvet Elvis paintings yet unborn. Plus, I noted a strip ad in eye's clubs page lending a sense of established permanence to the place and alerting the larger world a bit more to its existence.¹

I arrived in a bit of a haze, heading over after a rather baffling film and spent my first few minutes there staring blankly off into space trying to sort it all out in my head, dizzy with idea of reincarnation or eternal return or the universal similarity of human experience. Or something like that, I think. Fortunately K. — a bit sad for having a connection for some Dinosaur Jr. tickets not come through — showed up and re-focused me on the present.

In a weird, back-to-back sets coincidence, the first artist of the night, Casey Mecija, was also the last I'd seen at the last show I'd been at. This time out, things were even more stripped down, with the bulk of the set being a truly solo affair, just Mecija with her guitar and kickdrum. Different enough to make it feel like I wasn't just getting the same set twice, and a nice chance to hear the new material again and let it sink in a bit more. She led off with two of the same new songs heard at the Daps show, and then was joined on a few songs by Jeff Debutte (from The Acorn) adding some sympathetic, understated guitar lines and backing vox for a couple more new ones. The night's chatty crowd was a bit of a bother during the set, although with the venue still filling up, it wasn't too bad at the start. A gap to change tunings amped up the chatter a bit, though, and from then it didn't really abate, even when Mecija launched into the much-loved "The Otherside".² The set ended with another run through Nathan Lawr's "Barking at Your Door" — "I wish I'd written this one," Mecija told us.

Listen to a track from this set here.

Somewhat to my surprise, by the time that Ghost Bees were on stage, the place was packed. And folks were getting a little restless waiting for the set to start, not helped by a lengthy wait for the band to get everything plugged in and ready to go. Definitely a bit of a rough set-up day for the band — sometimes that just happens, but the slow start and frequent gaps between songs didn't help things along. Once things were underway, they started with one of those zither-y songs, filled with the close harmonies of twin sisters Sari and Romy Lightman accompanied by their uncanny looks directed at each other (implying "we're communicating telepathically!"). The band's effectiveness was being undermined by the loud music from the front room making its thumping presence felt over the delicate sounds on the stage, which seemed like a lack of care on the management's part towards the punters trying to watch the show.

Meanwhile, of all the gigs that I was expecting to see a steel drum solo, a Ghost Bees show might have been near the bottom. But there it was — an interesting idea, it was sort of played with a melancholy edge as a segue while the band's "secret" guests took the stage for a trio of songs. Although masked, John O'Regan would probably stand out in any crowd. The hooded keyboardist, meanwhile, might have remained shrouded in secrecy until beginning to sing — Katie Stelmanis' lovely, distinct voice quickly giving the game away. The four-piece played a slow, dirgeful tune that lumbered along a bit like a sleepy golem.³ The final song with the expanded lineup was a little more animated and showed the potential here, as the twins traded lines back and forth with Stelmanis and O'Regan, like an excerpt from some creepy opera.

But overall, I'd file the set under "not wholly successful experiment". Certainly the venue and crowd had something to do with the somewhat difficult reception this engendered in me, but part of the problem could also be gleaned when the twins came back out, unaccompanied, to play (as a slightly-unearned encore) their signature song "Sinai" ("You came tumbling and I was sorry") — which has a bit of something catchy to it, something you could hum to yourself afterwards, while the other material, well, not so much. I guess I'm glad that Ghost Bees are challenging themselves and their audience, but for myself, I need a bit more of a spoonful of sugar to make the medicine go down.

Although the last time I saw the Wilderness of Manitoba I found them pleasant but not compelling I knew I'd be seeing them again for further evaluation. As K. found a chair to sit a bit between sets, I told her that this would probably be down her alley, what with it featuring banjo and curly-headed boys and all that. Tired, she stayed sitting down as the band emerged at about quarter after midnight, but had moved up to where I was standing after a couple songs, giving a nod of approval. The band's central elements remain in place — the rootsy sound backed with harmonies and singing bowls, but it did seem tightened up some over the past few months. Plus, the set included some new material, such as "St. Petersburg", "Orono Park" and "White Water", the latter featuring a very fine string intro from Stefan Banjevic. The new songs seem like a nice extension of their original burst of material. Of those, "Evening" still works pretty effectively, and showcases why no small number people are utterly convinced by this band.

But not everyone, I guess — the crowd was still chatty during this set. Less so than during Ghost Bees, but still enough to be a distraction. As for me, on our way over to the bus stop after, I admitted to K. that there's still something about the band that keeps me from totally buying in. She promptly told me I was crazy and wrong, so take that under advisement. Still, I would yet like to hear the band in a fully sympathetic environment.

Listen to a track from this set here.

In the final analysis, this show was... okay. Maybe it was just in the wrong venue — the same bands playing at the Music Gallery, say, or Holy Oak would probably have gone over much better. It does make one wonder — what can the Garrison do to facilitate quieter shows? It's mildly amusing that in a venue that was quickly becoming famous for overwhelming volume that the bands were getting overwhelmed by crowd noise. But it's probably a good thing that bands playing quieter music didn't just have the volume knob cranked up — which'd probably just lead to people talking louder anyways. The biggest part comes from the atmosphere and culture being created at The Garrison. Is this just going to be a — ugh — hipster hangout, or is this going to be a place where people come to listen to music? I wonder what would happen if, for a show like this, the venue simply set up a few rows of chairs in front of the stage — would that be enough to get people to settle down and pay attention?⁴

Regardless, kudos to No Shame champion Lauren Schreiber, who packed the place out on a Thursday night with home-grown talent. I bet there were touring acts with higher profiles passing through town this same week playing to less crowded rooms, so it's worth celebrating what was going on here. The next step is being able to hear it as well.

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¹ The admirably minimalist website, however, could use a slightly sharper eye at the controls, this show being listed as the sic-inducing "Wilderness of Manaitoba + Ghost Bees + Casey Macida".

² In a more just world, there's be a roadie at the ready to hand Mecija a different guitar for a seamless transition.

³ It was, however, a chance to see that O'Regan unleasing his inner Wyrd Visions, showing off some hitherto undemonstrated guitar skills in unfurling melancholy minor key folk lays.

⁴ My first idea — roving docents with cattle prods issuing escalating warnings to the yapping folks — is, admittedly, probably a non-starter.

Gig: Baby Dee / Timber Timbre / Ghost Bees

Baby Dee / Timber Timbre / Ghost Bees

Over the Top Festival. 6 Nassau St. Thursday, May 21, 2009.

I'd gone to a film last year, but had never attended a gig at the Over the Top festival. This year I was interested, but scanning through the list of gigs, it was pretty much all stuff I was unfamiliar with. Unsure of what to see, I took the plunge and bought a wristband and resolved to try and take in as many previously-unseen bands as I could. Decided to start off with this Baby Dee show, not only from some vaguely-remembered plaudit for her unique stagecraft, but also to check out Timber Timbre, recently in the news for having signed with Arts & Crafts.

So headed off to the mysterious 6 Nassau Street. The venue had a bit of the feel of a speakeasy, largely because of its hidden, look-in-the-alley entrance. A largely unfurnished room, maybe a dozen yards square, with the bands set up in one corner. And not a lot of air movement on what turned out to be the year's first hot day. This meant that once it began to fill up, it got a little stifling in the room. Fortunately it was a sit-on-the-floor and soak it in kind of show, so perhaps smoggy lassitude was contemplative observation's midwife.

First up and establishing this vibe well were Ghost Bees (now T.O-based, but via Halifax) a duo of twin sisters Sari and Romy Lightman (guitar and mandolin) backed by Maya Postepski (percussion — also of Katie Stelmanis' band). Ghost Bees' music is wide-eyed folk, two gorgeous voices intertwining in eerie mysterious-twin synchronicity. Throughout the performance, the sisters watched each other carefully as they unfurled stories about witches and tea-leaf readers, giving a sort of private world folie à deux vibe. In the wrong context, I think this could all come off as too precious, but live, in this room, it was quite lovely. For their last two songs, the musicians pushed away their microphones and unplugged their guitars, singing unamplified to the rapt crowd. A good start to the night.

During Ghost Bees' last song, someone from the venue opened the side door to let in some air, and once the set ended, much of the crowd staggered outside to cool off, a living diorama of hipster types in the alley watched over by the staff in a Spadina restaurant's back door with some wry curiosity. Soon it was back in and a fairly full house settled down to hear Timber Timbre.¹ The band began with a rising ambient wall sounding like bird calls before guitarist/vocalist Taylor Kirk began to weave tales of haunted dark places. The band — lap steel, saxophone, violin — was well-constructed to add colour and texture more than rhythm. The songs were like a gothic mansion, all stately and roomy enough to explore around in. And possibly occupied by ghosts. A sharp set was capped by "Trouble Comes Knockin'", the excellent final selection, which felt like it was built from a pile of bones dug up at that crossroads where Robert Johnson did some business. Not recommended for use while operating heavy equipment or while trying to inspire the hopes of a young generation, but surely worth hearing.

A recording from this set can be found here.

And then, after another cooling break in the alley, a fair amount of turnover in the crowd — the numbers were reduced a bit, and now it looked like several of the cohort from the previous night's Katie Stelmanis had come along. Meanwhile, the harp and organ were being pulled into place for Baby Dee. I'm staggered in attempting to reduce this force of nature to mere descriptions. Imagine circus-ground organ and a quivering croon but also soft, melodious fingers on harp strings — two sets of tunes that were a little far apart, yet totally synthesized somehow in a way that made sense. I tended to enjoy the organ songs more — they put me in mind of British Music Hall tunes, like a bawdy George Formby, and were filled with viciously witty lines.² The harp songs were less immediate, though lovely in their own way — and it's a relatively unusual experience to see a harp in action, especially in the hands of a singer. This was a totally singular experience and a great set. Overall, a very good night, making me feel good for having taken the plunge.

A recording from this set can be found here.

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¹ Pronounced timber TAMber.

² Most amusing moment of the evening: one of those cooks from across the alley stepped into the room to see what all the fuss was about and looked around slightly suspiciously, like he thought the crowd were all putting him on by sitting around and listening to Baby Dee. He departed and, a few minutes later, brought a co-worker in with him, as if to prove his point about how crazy we were.